College is the best time of your life. That’s what people always tell you. They also say it will go by in the blink of an eye so try to savor this time as much as you can. What they don’t always tell you is how much you’ll change throughout your years of college. It seems like a given; the older you get, and the more you experience while in college, the more you will evolve as a person. However, when you’re preparing to move in and start your first year of college, you probably aren’t thinking about the fact that in just a few year’s time, the way you approach things and perceive things will be completely different. Just wait. When these four years go by faster than you can say “college is the best,” you’ll realize just how much you’ve changed since you first stepped foot onto campus.
1. Buying school supplies
Freshman year:
Senior year:
Freshman year you try to be as prepared as possible (which is awesome!). So you probably make sure you already have a notebook for every class and a full set of brand new pens and pencils. By the time you get ready to start your senior year, school supplies don’t seem as urgent for the first day of class. You probably have a notebook that you didn’t use much last semester to take notes in for the first week of classes until you can go buy what you need. But chances are you’re going to get as few supplies as you can this time around.
2. Getting ready for school to start
Freshman year:
Senior year:
It’s completely normal to be nervous before school starts freshman year. Your stomach is probably full of butterflies of nerves and excitement, especially when you still don’t know many people. It won’t be long though before you realize it’s no big deal and you can start to have fun and actually enjoy your classes. Senior year, it’s a completely different sensation. Now you’re not ready to start classes because it means you’re a step closer to graduation. Senioritis is kicking in and you realize you want to go back to the beginning.
3. Figuring out where your classes are
Freshman year:
Senior year:
You definitely don’t want to get lost on campus on your first day of college. All freshman get a map of campus at orientation, and usually aren’t very familiar with all of the buildings yet once class starts. That’s why it’s important that very first semester to make sure you know where all of your classes are and how long it takes to get there from your dorm. Seniors have been going to school on that campus for three years now, and even if you don’t know where a specific classroom is, you at least know where the building is and the basic layout. You’re also able to guide freshman in the right direction when they get a little lost.
4. Getting dressed for class
Freshman year:
Senior year:
You want to make a good impression freshman year so you’ll probably wear your best new clothes on most days. By your senior year, you probably have a job or internship in addition to classes, but when you don’t have to dress professionally, you may be more likely to wear sweatpants or work out clothes because you’re too lazy to put a lot of effort into how you look.
5. Living situation
Freshman year:
Senior year:
Almost all freshman live in a dorm on campus. It has it’s perks, I mean, you’re still living pretty much on your own. However, there are still some drawbacks. Dormrooms are usually tiny and shared with at least one roommate. There are still rules, like you can’t put nails in the wall and you can’t have candles. And dorms usually have a sign-in system for security reasons, so depending on where you’re friends live, you’ll have to sign them in everytime they come over to hang out. By your senior year you’ll probably have an apartment which means a bit more freedom. It’s a place where there aren’t so many rules and you can decorate it with your own furniture so it feels more like home.
6. Cooking
Freshman year:
Senior year:
If you’re living in a dorm, chances are you only have a microwave available to cook meals. It’s ok though because you probably also have a meal plan, so you really don’t have to cook often. However, you will get creative with what you can cook in the microwave. Pinterest is full of recipes for meals in a mug that you can just stick in the microwave for a few minutes. When you’re finally in your own apartment and have no meal plan, it means you have to buy groceries and cook for yourself, which can be fun. But it can also be tiring to cook something for every meal. And those are the days you’d rather order take-out than make your own meal.
7. Partying
Freshman year:
Senior year:
Partying in college is a new experience for most freshmen. Whether you went to parties in high school or not, going to parties your freshman year is another aspect of that first year of college that makes you feel new, young, and naive. And then by senior year, those wild crazy greek life parties have lost their appeal. You start to appreciate the idea of just having a few friends over for dinner, drinks, and long talks about each others weeks.
8. Finals week
Freshman year:
Senior year:
What you think freshman year: It will get easier. The truth: It gets harder. This is the one thing no one really tells you. In a sense, you learn how to study better, you start taking better notes, and you build up a knowledge about your major, which can make it a little easier to deal with once finals come around. But you also get into higher level classes that expect more from you than English 101. Papers get longer and more complex, group presentations build up, and classes cover a lot of material that will show up on final exams.
And finally… the general motto for all college seniors:
A lot changes between your very first semester of college and your last semester before graduating. You learn a lot and gain a lot of skills that you never would’ve expected, but you also adapt and change the way you view things. The best thing you can get out of college is discovering who you are and getting a better idea of the kind of person you want to be in the future, regarding both your career and your perception of the world around you. That’s what college is all about and if you do that, you can call it a success.